[ExI] free will.

[Eugen Leitl]

On Tue, Dec 27, 2011 at 02:12:46PM +0100, Stefano Vaj wrote:

> As on other subjects, I find Wolfram's rewording of a time-honoured
> reconciliation of the paradox (see Luther) quite persuasive.
> 
> When you *decide* something, you actually decide. OTOH, the decision
> cannot be other than that dictated by your "nature". What makes you
> "free" is that your nature can be inferred by your decision, but your
> decision cannot be computed starting from your nature unless by
> "running" you up to that point.

The question is also of practical predictability. We're noisy, nonlinear
system with a very short scope of predictability.

Perfectly deterministic *interesting* systems not taking inputs from the 
real world (which is also noisy and nonlinear) are predictable, but only 
if you actually do the computation. No shortcuts there.

In general the whole issue of free will vs determinism looks rather 
irrelevant these days.